'Like Canberra' deregistered as political party in the ACT

Like Canberra was removed from the ACT's register of political parties on Friday at the request of the party, acting ACT electoral commissioner Ro Spence said.

Tim Bohm was the co-founder of the Like Canberra party. Credit:Rohan Thomson

But the deregistration was not because the party did not "Like Canberra", co-founder Tim Bohm said.

"One of the main issues we wanted to highlight was the need for high speed rail and we think we've done that now and it's a long time between elections so it's just easier to deregister now and refocus and regroup closer to the next election, if we do," Mr Bohm said.

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The Like Canberra party signs which upset the Raiders.Credit:unknown

The party was a reincarnation of the Bullet Train for Canberra Party, which contested the 2012 election. The Bullet Train Party was also deregistered from other state and federal registers.

The party wanted to get rid of the post of commissioner for international engagement, a job created by the chief minister and given to political rival Brendan Smyth in the months leading up to the election.

They also wanted an investigation into the light rail project to ensure the community was not "ripped off" during construction.

Mr Bohm would not rule out another shot at an assembly seat - "Depends. My wife might divorce me if we form another party," he joked - but said there needed to be changes to the ACT's electoral system to make it fairer for minor parties.

"I was actually quoted in the Canberra Times as saying I've got a better chance of being hit by a meteor than winning a seat in the election. It was about raising issues and questioning our major parties rather than getting in and actually winning a seat which we know is immensely hard under the system we've got at the moment," Mr Bohm said.

Of the issues he said, "It wasn't clear for voters if they had to vote one to five or the whole sheet. The communication coming out of the electoral commission and the government was all you had to do was vote one to five and it's better for minor parties if everyone filled on every number. That could be a small change but that would be too hard I'm sure."

Eleven political parties remain registered in the ACT: Animal Justice Party; Australian Labor Party (ACT Branch); Australian Sex Party ACT; Canberra Community Voters; Liberal Democratic Party; Liberal Party of Australia (ACT Division); Sustainable Australia (ACT); The ACT Greens; The Community Alliance Party (ACT); The Flux Party – ACT; and VoteCanberra.